Captain's Log
by CountryGrl
Summary: The Doctor's alone once more after the events of The Runaway Bride - until he runs into an old friend who's all grown up. A friend who's always dreamed of the stars. Some characters from "The Resurrection Casket" - you don't have to have read the book. On hiatus.


**AN: For those of you who haven't read Justin Richards' **_**The Resurrection Casket**_**, well, shame on you. But you don't really have to have read it to understand this story – there're a few returning characters, that's all, because I couldn't trust myself to make up non-annoying OCs. (Then again, I can't trust myself to make up non-annoying plots, but bear with me…)**

**This story will probably take a long time to be updated. Because I'm a bad person who starts a lot of stories and then takes months to get back to them. But it will happen. Slowly.**

**Until then – enjoy!**

**Reviews are love!**

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"_I'm going to go__ into space one day – just you wait and see." _

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**Prologue**

Assisting a pilot in a large commercial spaceport was _not_ the kind of life Jimm had had in mind when he'd dreamed of the spaceways. The twelve-year-old boy he'd been back then had longed for the taste of adventure, however much his uncle had tried to persuade him it wasn't always like that out there.

Since he'd found out who he really was – and what that meant – he'd wondered if he should feel different…but the truth was, he didn't. He was still just Jimm, the boy who grew up in his uncle's home and was fascinated by tales of robots and pirates. He was the sum of his upbringing, not his past, and whoever he had been, it was forgotten.

Seven years ago now, seven years since his life got turned upside down, just for that one instant. Jimm was now nineteen, a tall lad, still on the skinny side, his blue eyes still just as piercing and inquisitive. Curiousity was a trait he had kept since his childhood, and so was the unfortunate ability to get into trouble. Mostly with his boss.

He'd been late in this morning, and managed to follow that by upsetting some port inspectors, and breaking his boss' vidcom. Was it his fault, he protested, that he'd grown up on a planet where nothing electrical worked? It was no wonder he was having trouble adjusting.

Yes, his boss had said, but if he didn't adjust soon he'd be doing his apprenticeship in some other spaceport, under some other pilot who didn't mind taking on a completely green, inexperienced young _boy_ to help him. And, he added, there weren't many like him.

Which was why Jimm was, for the time being, hiding in a cupboard.

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The TARDIS seemed to have developed a fetish for landing in cupboards recently. First Krop Tor, then Recenta, then Ko, and now here. Wherever 'here' was.

The Doctor bit his lip on the "Here we are then!" that was about to slip out of his mouth as he pulled open the ship's doors.

_Here I am then_, he thought instead.

This cupboard seemed to be a storage cupboard – or maybe a storage _room _– cleaning equipment and spare parts littered the floor and various shelves.

Otherwise, it was empty.

Apart from…

There was a cough, and the Doctor turned round to see a tall, skinny young man, half hidden behind the dusty shelves, dressed in a black uniform with a white insignia embroidered on the shirt.

Something about him was…vaguely familiar.

"Hello," he said, "It's you, isn't it?"

The Doctor gave a grin. "I don't know about that," he said, "But I'm _me_, sure enough."

"No, but it's _you_," the young lad repeated, "You're the Doctor."

"Yes I am," the Doctor replied, the grin starting to fade. "But…do I..."

He trailed off, staring intently at the other man, trying to remember. That face, not so long ago, but much younger, a small boy, and those eyes…the same as ever. "You're… Jimm!"

"That's right." Jimm gave a wide smile to match the Doctor's. "Long time, no see."

The Doctor frowned. "Yes, how long's it been for you?"

"Seven years, give or take."

"Hmm," the Doctor nodded. "So how've you been? Got a job, I see? Nice and respectable?"

Jimm laughed. "Yes, I'm doing it the right way this time. Learning to fly ships properly. Doing an apprenticeship." He sighed.

The Doctor smiled. "A lot of waiting around and being bossed about by the 'proper' pilot?"

"You bet," said Jimm.

"You just wait," the Doctor said warmly, "One day, you're going to be brilliant. Out there…amongst the stars… The universe is waiting for someone like you."

Suddenly he sprung towards Jimm, arms outstretched, "It's good to see you."

The young man returned his embrace. "You too."


End file.
